She's got eyes like Zapruder
And a mouth like heroin
She wants me to be perfect like Kennedy
This isn't god, this isn't god
God is just a statistic
God is just a statistic
Say,
Show me the dead stars
All of them sing
This is a riot
Religious and clean

God is a number you cannot count to
You are posthuman and hardwired

She's pilgrim and pagan
Softworn and so-cial
In all of her dreams
She's a saint like Jackie-O

This isn't god, this isn't god
God is just a statistic
God is just a statistic
Say,
Show me the dead stars
All of them sing
This is a riot
Religious and clean

21 Comments

This by far is my favorite Manson song. When I first heard it all I was really paying attention too was "God is just a Statistic" because that was what Manson was stressing.

I don't agree with other people about being a direct jab at Christianity. I think he was indirectly criticizing it by saying that those who blindly follow any sort of dogmatic belief system choose just to except what they are told and not concerned in thinking for themselves.

Just as the pope is thought to have been chosen by God people still look for that (supposed) perfect leader who will do all the thinking for them.

Hypothetically if Abraham Zapruder were born in a different time as a Catholic near the vatican would try to get really close to the pope. It was the feeling he got by being close to someone he thought could take away all of his problems.

"God is just a statistic" Since Kennedy was shot it must have shattered Zapruder's worldview seeing that after all he was only human. Just another dead person.

I think Manson literally means that Kennedy was nothing more than a statistic. I base this on "Fight Song" where he says,"

The death of One is a tragedy(someone of importance)
The death of a million is just a statistic.

Manson is trying to expose this crystallized, non-critical thinking belief system and mindset which produces false idol worship be it religious, political, or educational. These "posthumans" need an external person to make them feel better.

@MeshBlorg

I have read a lot of Nietzsche and think Manson is using it differently. "You are posthuman and Hardwired" This posthuman is shown that he can't let go of his limited worldview.

One final thought in my interpretation is that Manson is singing to all of the "Zapruders" out there. I picture Kennedy getting the bullet in the head and associate it with the Lyric "God is just a statistic". By saying this, he is telling all of the "Zapruders", your hero worship is false and empty because this 'Man of Steel, Superman' because the only powers this god really possesses is the ability to put on the tight spandex and cape, forget about watching leap tall buildings.

General CommentI believe it's how christians, or rather all religous people, look at horrific events in the religons history as right, necessary, and peaceful. While from anyone else is is a horrific event. it's how ppl use the guise of religion to justify everything that they do. that is what I believe this song is about.
"This is a riot
Religious and clean "

General CommentShe's got eyes like Zapruder
And a mouth like heroin
She wants me to be perfect like Kennedy

The Abraham Zapruder home movie of the Kennedy assasination is the only known film of the entire assasination....
Abraham Zapruder was a fan of John F Kennedy and managed to cath the assasination on tape. When they say shes got eyes of zapruder, I think he could possibly mean that shes got sharp eyes and a mouth like heroin; addictive, unhealthy. and she expects him to be perfect, like zapruder would have expected much from Kennedy.
Just a thought though.

General CommentPosthuman is a song that tries to make a statement about pop culture through history, literature, and other metaphors.

The statement "God is just a statistic" is a modified version of the statement "sanity is a statistic", which first appeared in George Orwell's 1984. Basically, Manson is trying to say that God (the idea of God) can be manipulated to mean anything just like statistics.

She got eyes like Zapruder
mouth like heroin

The Zapruder film was shows the footage of JFKs assasination. Basically Manson uses the Zapruder as a metaphor for society's fascination with death. The heroin mouth conveys the idea that the media and their words are infectious which causes the masses to take every word they say as truth.

She wants me to be perfect like Kennedy

Showing how Kennedy was martyred after his death. He was seen as the embodiment of the America idea.

Show me the dead stars
All of them sing

The American celebrity is deadened and fake. Although they "sing" in front of the cameras they are "dead" inside.

This is a riot
Religious and clean

The riot is the mass exploitation in the media. The reference to religion being "clean" is a sarcastic statement. Contrarily, he's trying to point out that religion is the exact opposite of clean.

God is a number you cannot count to

He's trying to say that the idea of God is beyond scientific reason.

You are posthuman and hardwired

Basically, the vast majority of Americans are "posthuman" meaning they have died already (in the intellectual and emotional sense). Moreover, they are conditioned to blindly follow whatever they are told like "hardwired" computers.

She's pilgrim and pagan
Softworn and so-cial

This is a stab at the hypocrites who say they are one thing but act like someone else.

In all of her dreams
She's a saint like Jackie-O

Being a saint is an unrealistic idea to have. Therefore, we dream about being perfect like "Jakie-O" (JFK's wife).

"All that glitters is cold, all that glitters is cold."

Obviously, this is a play on the common cliche: "All that glitters aint gold". Manson replaced the word "gold" with "cold" to point out that decadence and materialism is saturated with death but most people are too blind to realize it.

Overall, I didn't like this song too mush but I do like the message it conveys. A lot of the references in this song reemerge on Holy Wood. I think he should have put it on that album instead of Mechanical Animals.

General CommentIn my personal opinion "God is a number you cannot count to
You are posthuman and hardwired" speaks clearly itself but not many people are hitting on what I see inside that statement. How can you speak of god when you cannot see him? Human social behaviour has been so engraved into our minds that we believe in this empty thing called god without knowing what the hell we are talking about. Not saying a god does or does not exist just saying you cannot speak of something you know nothing about.